This investigation aimed to evaluate the quality of life and the cognitive level of elderly participants in conviviality groups in a city of Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil. The cognitive approach was used in this study, which included 85 elderly. The Mini-exam of Mental State was used for the data collection and the Short-Form Health Survey-36. The data was analyzed according to the descriptive statistics. The results show a predominance of females, between the ages of 60 and 69, widows, the ones who attended from four to seven years of formal education and that receive from one to three minimum wages income. The results of MEEM indicates that 23.6% of the study participants have a cognitive decline. The values of the domains assessed by SF 36 showed that the worst average is presented in the pain item (30.47); in the social aspects domain the value was 56.74; the mental health item reached 59,36, while the general health state and vitality presented the same average, 58.29. The domain of emotional aspects stands out with the best averages (69.82) and physical aspects (73.82). The results amplify the knowledge about the quality of life of elderly people participating of group activities and subsidize the developing of strategies towards the promotion of active aging.